Spanish Driver's License
 

Hello Forum. I am contemplating a retirement move to Spain after ending working life and my question is regarding obtaining a Spanish Drivers License. I have a UK Drivers License and understand the process since March 2023 is that I must be Resident in Spain when making an application to allow a transfer. However, my Residency in Spain will be based on me having an Irish Passport. I do have UK passport and for obvious reasons post BREXIT, the Irish passport will be the form of ID and will be linked to Residency. I have never held an Irish Drivers License. Could this be problemtic ? Kind Regards

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

There is NO UK driving license transfer post Brexit:

'

Driving in Spain

Read the guidance on:

• what you need to drive in the EU
• road travel in Spain

You cannot renew or replace your UK, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man driving licence if you live in Spain.

If you have one of these licences, you can use it to drive for up to 6 months after becoming resident in Spain. To continue driving after this, you must apply for a Spanish driving licence.

The process for obtaining a Spanish licence depends on whether you have a UK, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey or Isle of Man licence.

You cannot use an International Driving Permit (IDP) instead of a Spanish licence.'

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/living-i...iving-in-spain

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

The DGT say you can though and I would be inclined to believe them over the Uk gov seeing as they are still saying we can have free healthcrae.
​​​​​​https://sede.dgt.gob.es/es/permisos-...K.html?pais=gb

I pasted the link to the english translation.

To the OP your passport does not matter, you register as an EU citizen and then you confuse the DGT etc because for some reason you have a licence from a non eu country.
Follow the directions from the DGT yourself or get a local gestor to do the leg work. Most wont charge much.
If you had an Irish licence then you would only have to exchange this at its card expiry.
Exactly like all EU drivers now resident in the UK.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

The post says you cannot renew your UK licence when you are resident in Spain.

That has always been the case, but you can exchange it.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

It's the fact of being a UK licence which mandates an exchange, nothing else.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

Thank you for the responses, it is appreciated. Yes, as per Barriej, understand DGT as the most reliable source of information and I will check from time to time for updates. The outcome in my case looks good as there are some comforting points to my concern with having an Irish passport and no Irish drivers license, possibly muddying the waters. However, this may not be fundamental to the objective of obtaining a Spanish license stemming from a UK one in lieu of Irish/EU.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

I thought you had to register to exchange your UK license for a Spanish one prior to some date or other related to Brexit but....

'On Tuesday, 14th March 2023, the Spanish Government signed off on the agreement to allow the exchange of UK driving licences without taking a driving test. For all those UK driving licence holders who have been “grounded” since May 2022 as well as people planning to move to Spain in the future, this is fantastic news.
You can make the exchange in one of the Spanish traffic authorities offices known as the DGT or you can use a registered professional to complete the exchange on your behalf.'

https://upsticks.es/exchanging-your-...-need-to-know/

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

If you follow the routs shown on the DGT website it asks which country you are from (and the licence)
Under the Uk it still shows exchanging is not a problem. It also says you can exchange an expired one as long as it was still valid when you became resident.

I know one person who came over on the NLV two months ago and he swapped his UK licence without a problem.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

There is no 'case' and you're imagining problems which simply do not exist.

A UK licence MUST be exchanged for Spanish within 6 months of becoming resident, that's all there is to it. DGT will neither know nor care what passport you used to gain residence, the two have nothing whatsoever to do with each other.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

I would suggest it would be much easier, if you simply sit Spanish driving test

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

Why on earth would you do that when you have a perfectly good UK licence to exchange?

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

From others comments it seems that it is no longer as easy to exchange as you suggested. Be interesting to hear if OP is successful

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

why do you say it is difficult to exchange a UK. Licence for a Spanish one? It was difficult for a time after Brexit, but now it’s back to normal.

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

Good. It would be nice to hear that from one who has exchanged recently

Re: Spanish Driver's License
 

Now that the backlog caused by Brexit etc has been dealt with, there are so few Brits applying for visas, its going to be difficult to get an example of a recent application.